MAYOR JOSH BLACK, DUBBO REGIONAL COUNCIL: It's fantastic to have Emma McBride, the Assistant Minister for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention, in Dubbo today for the official opening of this Medicare Mental Health Centre. This is a great announcement from the Albanese Labor Government because we know that people not just in Dubbo but all throughout the Greater Western region have real trouble with access to basic health services that people in the city take for granted.
ASSISTANT MINISTER EMMA MCBRIDE: I am so pleased to be here in Dubbo today for the official opening of the Medicare Mental Health Centre. We are bringing mental health into the heart of Medicare and centres right into the heart of communities. For far too long, it's been too hard for people to access the mental health support and care they need, especially outside of major cities, and Medicare Mental Health Centres are designed to remove those barriers to care. You don't need an appointment, you don't need a referral. They're open extended hours and you can just walk in. Nine to seven weekdays, extended hours on the weekend, to make sure that local people get the best support and care they need. A really central part of our Medicare mental health model is clinical workers with peer workers, bringing together professional backgrounds with lived experience to provide the tailored wraparound support that people need and deserve.
I'm so proud to be part of a government that is delivering 91 across the country, 32 in New South Wales, and one right here in Dubbo today. And I want to thank everybody who's been part of the design of this service, working alongside people with their own lived experience to make sure that the service is welcoming, that it is safe. It's a place where people feel that they can come for information and advice or for more wraparound clinical support if that's what they need.
BRAD PORTER: Thanks. The Western PHN is really pleased to be delivering the Medicare Mental Health Centre here in Dubbo, a $10.9 million investment from the Australian Federal Government. The PHN is the commissioning body on behalf of the government, and they're really pleased to be partnering with Stride Mental Health, Wellways, and Clarity Health in delivering this free mental health service. So it is an alternative to turning up to the hospital for mental health. You can come to this site and get free access – open from 9 in the morning to 7 at night with extended hours on weekends so that patients can have free, available access to good-quality, high-care mental health services.
ELLE ZATTERA: Elle Zattera, I'm the practice manager of Dubbo Medicare Mental Health. So we're so excited that we're open to the community here at Dubbo Medicare Mental Health – a free accessible service that anyone can walk into. You don't need an appointment. You don't need a referral. You can come in and speak to our multidisciplinary team. We've got our peer wellbeing navigators who have lived experience of the mental health system who are here to walk beside you. Our clinical care coordinators and our clinicians that provide that wraparound care that we feel this community is really in need of, and we are so excited to be able to open today.
JOURNALIST: I guess from a cost perspective, I can't quite remember, what's the cost for this?
MCBRIDE: The investment here in this Dubbo Medicare Mental Health Centre is more than $10 million. This is also an ongoing investment so that communities know that these services are here, and that when they need them, they'll be available to them. This is part of the National Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Agreement and bilaterals with each state and territory, bringing support and care to people closer to home and importantly for free.
JOURNALIST: You might not be able to answer this, but how many Medicare Mental Health Centres are there across the country?
MCBRIDE: At the recent election we committed to expand the program to 91 across the country. There's now more than 40 open. This one here in addition to one in Bathurst and in the future there'll be one – there'll be more in Wilcannia and in other places in the west. What we're really aiming to do is bring mental healthcare closer to home for Australians wherever they live, whether it's in regional centres or more remote communities.
JOURNALIST: What kind of demand do you foresee with the centre like this being in a major hub like Dubbo that services a lot of Western New South Wales?
MCBRIDE: There is really high demand. We know that in communities right across the country there's been a big increase in distress. There's lots of different drivers of that distress but what we know is having services close to home that are free really increase access. So we're pleased to be able to provide this service to make that need in a big hub like Dubbo.
JOURNALIST: I guess my only one – Elle, you might also be able to answer this, is I think it was said earlier that there was a bit of consultation with the community on things like this. I guess, just – are either of you able to fill us in with what might be of more of demand in a place like Dubbo or sort of west slash regional New South Wales?
MCBRIDE: I'm a mental health worker myself. I'm a pharmacist by background who’s worked in acute inpatient units. And what we know was that people needed a safe alternative within the community to access mental health support and care because crisis could often, distress could often escalate to crisis, which led to long inpatient admissions. So what the intention of Medicare and Mental Health Centres is intended to do is to bring that support sooner, closer to home, and for free so that people can get that wraparound care and support in their community and hopefully avoid the hospital admission and can thrive in their communities. But I might hand over to Elle who can talk more about the local co-design because what we want of these centres meets needs within this particular community, the unique needs that people have here and to make sure it fills gaps in services and builds service integration. So, I’ll hand over to Elle to speak a little bit more about that.
ZATTERA: Thanks Emma. So we had an extremely long co-design session that we worked with the PHN, with Western New South Wales Local Health District and a number of the amazing services in Dubbo to make sure that this Medicare Mental Health Centre delivers the needs of the Dubbo specific community. So the LHD Carers and Consumers Committee recently came through the centre, were able to address exactly some concerns that they had put forward that would remove accessibility, that we were able to then meet and find a really accessible welcoming space, especially across a huge diverse range that this community puts forward, that we're making sure that everybody that walks into the centre feels welcome, and receives accessible, free care to stop that escalation, that they can walk in when they need it and receive it.
JOURNALIST: I guess while you're there, from a local perspective, we've got farming backgrounds too. You've got people that will ride the wave of good seasons and bad seasons.
ZATTERA: [Talks over] One hundred per cent.
JOURNALIST: Do you foresee this being used by farmers coming on in into Dubbo?
ZATTERA: That is our hope. So we have across our staff profile, we have a huge diverse range of people and we have also partnered with different services so that if we find that somebody comes in from a farming profile and they might need a men's group, that they find that we've got those local services that we can refer to and provide information for in a warm supportive way. We are a 3- to 6-month term program, but we welcome – we're trying to make sure that everybody from every different walk of life feels welcome and supported for free in an accessible way.